Vancouver Canucks Forwards Shine in Sweden Win; Europe Surprises

The Vancouver Canucks’ six World Cup of Hockey participants will likely all make the semifinals.

After Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen and defenseman Luca Sbisa lost their first two pre-tournament games with Team Europe against Team North America, everyone was sure they would be the worst team in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. After two of three games played in the preliminary round, however, they are one of just two teams that have clinched a spot in the semifinals.

Team Sweden isn’t quite there yet, but a lot would have to go wrong for them to miss the next round.

Sweden Shouldn’t Lose

On Tuesday, Sweden beat their biggest rivals, Team Finland, with a 2-0 score. Both goals came thanks to Canucks forwards.

In the second period of a close game, Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman scored for a 1-0 lead, assisted by both Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

A pass from behind the net by Henrik that led to a goal? Yeah, we’ve seen that before.

Sweden had several chances to extend their lead, and especially the all-Canucks top line played another great game. Unfortunately, they couldn’t convert on their chances, but it was Loui Eriksson who all but clinched Sweden’s spot in the semifinals with an empty-net goal.

Team Sweden is currently first in the group with four points, followed by North America with two, Russia with two, and Finland with zero. But, as the final two games are Sweden versus North America and Finland against Russia, even the Finns still have a chance to make the semifinals, and Sweden could still fall to third.

If North America beat Sweden and Russia beat Finland, the top-three teams would all be tied with four points.

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In that scenario, the first tie breaker would be the standings excluding games against Finland. All three beat Finland, so it would still be a tie.

Next up would be regulation and overtime wins. If North America and Russia both won in regulation, all three teams would be tied at two regulation and overtime wins.

The next tie breaker is the goal differential. As of now, Sweden leads with plus-three, North America is second with plus-two, and Russia is even.

Now, in this scenario, Sweden loses to North America, meaning North America would definitely have a better goal differential than Sweden. If it was a one-goal game, Sweden would be eliminated as soon as Russia wins by at least two goals.

So, a lot would have to go wrong for Sweden to miss the semifinals. But in the end, it could happen very quickly.

As long as they earn at least an overtime loss tonight against North America, there is nothing Team Russia can do when they face Finland tomorrow.

Team Europe Surprises

Perhaps the biggest positive for Team Europe going into this tournament was that they had nothing to lose. Everyone expected them to be terrible, and as long as they were better-than-terrible, it would have been a success.

Well, Europe won their first two games — a 3-0 against Team USA and a 3-2 overtime victory versus the Czech Republic — and clinched their spot in the semifinals before the final game is played.

From a Canucks perspective, however, things haven’t gone too well.

Before the tournament, Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger said he expected Canucks D-man Sbisa to play a big role with the team:

"“Luca was definitely selected as somebody who is going to play in the tournament,” Krueger said. “One D and one forward will have to sit. But all things being normal, I’d expect Luca to play. I have no fear that he defensively can’t play up against everybody and he’ll be a good player when he comes in for us. Every team will be laden right through the lineup with talented individuals, so you can’t worry too much about matchups. He’ll definitely be more of a penalty-killing defenceman for us, but five-on-five I’m not worried about him.”"

Many Canucks fans laughed when they read it, and no one was really surprised when Sbisa was benched after Team Europe’s first two exhibition games. German free agents Christian Ehrhoff and Dennis Seidenberg are regulars while Sbisa watches every game from the press box — it’s just what everyone expected.

Since Team Europe is qualified for the semifinals already, Krueger could change things up a bit for Game 3. But throwing Sbisa in for the toughest game of the tournament probably wouldn’t be beneficial.

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As to Jannik Hansen, he’s doing well in Europe’s bottom six. He isn’t a big point producer, but rather a quiet contributor — just what we expected him to be.

Team Europe will conclude the preliminary round tonight against Team Canada. Can they surprise again?